At police station he met Addl. commissioner Ashok Kamte and Sr. Inspector Salaskar. The operation was difficult as it was dark and terrorists had AK 47s, other automatic weapons , handgranades and surprise element on their side and were well trained.When these officers and a few constables went to Cama from back side and Kamte fired at the terrorists, they were retaliated with a handgranade. Thereupon Kamte suggested to confront terrorist from the front entrance of Cama. So a couple of constables were stationed at back entrance of Cama and rest boarded a Qualis jeep of an ACP

. As they were moving Salaskar asked driver to let him drive. At around that time they got information on wireless that terrorists were hiding behind a red car. As they turned from Crime Branch office towards Rang Bhavan looking for the red car, near Corporation Bank ATM they saw a terrorist running . Kamte or Salaskar or both fired , bullet hit the terrorist on his arm and his AK 47 fell down. He was Kasab, a lone terrorist captured alive later. As they were thinking of getting down, the second terrorist, Ibrahim Khan fired a volley of bullets on them and all but one Assistant Police Inspector Jadhav died. Hemant Karkare, Ashok Kamte, Salaskar and others laid down their lives in action fighting against terrorists during the Mumbai attacks, on 26 November, 2008 in a narrow lane between St. Xaviers College and Rang Bhavan just a stone throw away from the Crime Branch office.

India Express quotes statements by Constable Arun Jadhav, who was with the officers Hemant Karkare, Vijay Salaskar and Ashok Kamte when they died. The three officers and four constables had received information that Sadanand Date had been injured in the gunfire at the Cama and Albless Hospital for women and children. Located at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), a ten-minute drive from the hospital, they took a Toyota Qualis and proceeded in that direction. Salaskar was driving, Kamte in the passenger seat, Karkare in the second row, and the four constables, including Jadhav, were in the back row of seating. According to Jadhav, five minutes later two terrorists stepped out from behind a tree and opened fire with AK-47 automatic rifles. The six policemen, other than Jadhav, were all killed quickly in the gunfire.

Kamte was the sole officer who managed to retaliate,wounding terrorist Ajmal in the arm.The wounded Jadhav had no opportunity to render assistance. The two terrorists approached the vehicle, dumped the bodies of the three officers on the road and, leaving the constables for dead, proceeded to Metro Cinema. Upon arrival, they aimed three bursts of automatic fire at police and journalist vehicles drawn up at that location, then drove off towards the government offices (Vidhan Bhawan) in South Mumbai. Here again they fired several times. While attempting to leave the area, one of the tires of the vehicle burst, so the terrorists departed to obtain another. At this point, Jadhav was able to contact headquarters. The bodies of the dead were promptly recovered and taken to St George Hospital.